What does a baby feel? Feeling comfort is a vital part of a baby’s early experience and development. It is through the sense of touch that a baby is able to feel the difference between a soft toy and a hard one or a carpet and a wooden floor. It is for good reason that many young children develop a special attachment to a soft toy or blankee.

Experiments conducted by Harlow in the sixties using Rhesus monkeys showed that baby monkeys chose a soft, cuddly surrogate mother (a wire monkey covered with toweling fabric) in preference to a wire framed surrogate which wasn’t covered in the soft fabric, even though both had been rigged up to supply milk to the monkeys. The baby monkeys chose to spend most of the day clinging onto the cloth mother. Not only could the baby monkeys tell the difference between what was soft and what wasn’t but they derived more comfort from the cloth surrogate and therefore showed a preference for it.

Human babies can distinguish textures right from birth. Newborn babies who were given rough then smooth nipples to suck, indicated by their reactions that they noticed a difference, according to research carried out at the Touch Institute at the University of Miami School of Medicine. Extensive research into the effects of massage therapy too has shown that this particular type of touching has beneficial effects for infants. It can induce sleep more effectively than rocking and can help babies gain weight. This is why it is often used with premature babies in premature baby units.

Cuddling has been shown to have a similar effect. Children who are picked up, cuddled and cradled have been shown to gain weight and grow faster but they are also more alert and active, sleep more soundly and develop stronger immune systems and higher IQs than those left in their cots.

It is thought that babies respond well to touch because when in the womb they have the sensation of being constantly touched by the fluid which surrounds them.